Delivered on September 11, 2005, Melana

speaks on God's call.  Our summer series

of questions posed by the congregation is

over but maybe we can persuade Melana to

do another this fall.

 

Called by God                                                                                  Matt. 19:13-15

      In many churches, children are relegated to the "future" of the church.

Children are not the "future" of the church, they are part of the church right now - often the most lively part as we see every Sunday during worship.

It has been suggested that we would never have a shortage of funds if the children took the regular offering every Sunday.  As you have noticed, they don't take no for an answer very well.  You can't put all your change into one child's can, because several others will be by, expecting you to put something into theirs.

      We have spent the summer looking at some difficult issues - today we had the opportunity to do, for the first time since I have been here, what is perhaps, the most joyous event in the life of a church - baptizing a baby.

      I thought we might look today at why Presbyterians baptize babies when many other denominations do not.  Presbyterians believe that parents can commit to bring a child up in the nurture of the church so that they can learn about the love of God in Jesus Christ.

      When we baptize a baby, the parents are making promises to teach that child about God's love for them, even when it means sitting next to a wiggling toddler who doesn't understand anything that is going on, except that she likes to open the hymnbook and color the children's bulletin and pretend to sing the songs that everyone else sings.  The parents promise to answer the questions that a curious five year old asks, even when they are difficult questions like, "Who made God?"  Or at least promise to ask the pastor what the answer is.

      When we baptize a baby the parents are promising to find ways, like LOGOS, so that their child can learn more about the Bible and be part of something bigger in worship and begin to know that others care for them.  When we baptize a baby, the congregation is making a promise, to help those parents nurture their child, and participate in answering the difficult questions and help them know that they are cared for and loved as children of God.

      Today, when we baptized Saige, you promised to help Scott and Shannon bring her up to know God's love in her life, you promised that on behalf of the congregation they will join later.  When my children were baptized, another congregation made that promise, and you have taken it over. 

      We baptize infants because we believe the promise of our forgiveness is true even before we are able to recognize it.

      Paul wrote, Even before we were able to love God, God loved us - that is why we baptize infants who have no understanding of what we are doing, except that they are not sure they like me putting water on them.

      Many people choose to wait and allow their children to make their commitment to Christ in baptism on their own, that way they remember the commitment they made in a special way.  We do not believe that baptism is some special rite that is required in order for people to make it into heaven.

We believe baptism is a sign and a seal of what has already been done for us in Jesus Christ.

      So whether one is baptized as an infant or a teenager or an adult does not matter, baptism is a recognition of being adopted into the family.  Presbyterians baptize infants as part of that recognition.

      Will Willimon, who is Methodist pastor and a writer, tells a story of a baptism:

      "A pastor baptized a baby. After the baptism, the pastor said to the baby, in a voice loud enough to be heard by parents and congregation, 'Little sister, by this act of baptism, we welcome you to a journey that will take your whole life.  This isn't the end. It's the beginning of God's experiment with your life. What God will make of you, we know not. Where God will take you, surprise you, we cannot say. This we do know, and this we say - God is with you."

            -Stanley Hauerwas and William H. Willimon, Resident Aliens                        (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1989), 52-53.

      That is what we say when we baptize infants - you are part of the journey with the whole family of faith - right now.  It is wonderful that we were able to baptize Saige today, on the day when we are preparing our staff for LOGOS, which begins at the end of the month.  The anthem the choir sang this morning is one of my absolute favorites - Train up a child in the way she should go, and when she is old, she will not depart from it.

      LOGOS is all about keeping those baptismal vows and helping parents keep them. LOGOS is a way that the whole congregation becomes the youth minister.

It is the way that children recognize that they are welcomed and loved and are part of the church now, not pushed aside to be the future - a part of the church someday.  The children in this church know that you care about them for who they are right now and are willing to be here on Wednesdays to help them become the people God created them to be.

      Whenever I wonder whether I have the energy for one more week of LOGOS,

I remember a story that the founder of the LOGOS Program, Dale Milligan, told at one of the trainings I attended.  His philosophy was that there was nothing so bad that a child could do that would make someone kick them out of LOGOS.  He said a child could be kicked out of LOGOS when the adults involved were ready for God to kick them out of the kingdom of heaven.

      Then he told this story.  The first year they had LOGOS there was a little boy in the 2nd grade named Rob. Rob had a lot of energy and couldn't always contain it - and sometimes used that energy in a negative way.  His Bible teacher would come into Dale's office every Wednesday evening after LOGOS and fret over what she could do to get Rob to behave - some evenings she would say she couldn't go on - maybe Rob didn't belong at LOGOS. 

      Every Wednesday evening Dale would listen and then tell the Bible teacher that God was working in Rob, even if she couldn't see it - so she went on another week.  The Bible teacher finished out the year, without kicking Rob out of LOGOS - but was glad not to teach him again the next year.  When Rob was in high school, he was still part of the LOGOS program and the Sr. Highs went on a trip.  His 2nd grade Bible teacher's daughter, Katie, was along on the trip - she was a year younger than Rob.  Katie had a neurological dysfunction that caused her to lose control of her muscles from time to time - she would just go limp - and she couldn't predict when it would happen.

      Part of the trip included a visit to the ocean.  Katie swam out with some other girls - and suddenly had one of her episodes - she went under and no one knew quite where.  Rob heard the other girls screaming and ran and swam out to where they were and dove under until he found Katie - he pulled her to shore and found that she was breathing and would be okay. 

      When they got back from their trip and told Katie's mom what had happened, Dale looked at her and said, "What if we had kicked Rob out of LOGOS in 2nd grade?"

      God calls people at all different stages in their lives - Moses was called as an infant - saved from death by his young sister and Pharaoh's daughter to fulfill a grander plan. Samuel was a young boy in the Temple when God called him to be the one to oversee the transition of a growing nation.

      When we baptize infants, we do not know what God has in store for them on their journey, but we do know that God has promised to be with them - and we have promised to be part of that journey as well.  It takes a whole congregation to help a child hear and understand their special call from God.  It is a privilege and an awesome responsibility to be part of that journey - to learn as those children ask questions, to discover anew through their eyes that God's love is immense and unending.

 

© Melana Scruggs 2005

 

 

  

     

    

 

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